


A Delicate Situation

by cerie



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, F/M, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerie/pseuds/cerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Callie.  Time-traveling Will in an established relationship with Helen Magnus before she took the Source blood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Delicate Situation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Callie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callie/gifts).



There weren’t any tests for this sort of thing and Helen only knew to guess, using a complicated formula of when she’d completed her last menstrual cycle to the number of times she and Will had engaged in intercourse. Eventually, after several long minutes of calculations, she threw up her hands and dipped her head ever so inelegantly over the basin once again. She was sick, constantly, and Will wasn’t an idiot. Far from it, actually, and he likely knew more about this process than she did.

She was pregnant.

James was going to have him murdered first, according to fashion, then propose to Helen through clenched teeth. John had disappeared some time before with Scotland Yard haunting his every step and Nikola and Nigel had long since gone to America to try and track the former down. Gregory would care, but more about the novelty of an impending grandchild than a strike against Helen’s honor; he was more progressive than the world was ready for.

Which left Helen herself. She had promised Will, when Nikola’s device hadn’t worked, that she would never trap him into a marriage or children and yet having gotten tipsy after a birthday party for James had ended up having sex and forgetting to drink her contraceptive tea or have Will pull out. Damn everything, the tea hadn’t affected her overall fertility, and now she was in a predicament. She splashed fresh water against her face and scrubbed her teeth before heading down to the rooms that her father had allotted for Will.

She rapped lightly at his door and waited, more than a little nervous and uncomfortable about the whole situation. What if he didn’t want this? She had promised him. She had promised him and it had been her responsibility to ensure this never happened and yet, she’d bumbled it and left them in this difficult situation. She was talking to herself, steeling her nerves, and squeaked a little when the door swung open.

“Magnus? You look a little green around the gills.”

Will had tilted his head slightly and pursed his lips in such a way that told Helen that he was approximately three breaths from pulling her to him for an embrace and she didn’t know if she could take it. She had prided herself on never fainting, on not being one of those easily-excitable women and yet she felt so nervous just now that anything could have knocked her over, even a feather. She braced herself against the doorway and nodded, taking in a slow breath.

“You need to propose, Will.”

Damn. That hadn’t come out the way she’d wanted at all. Will, for his part, had gone pale and started to frown and Helen knew she’d made a mistake. If only she could pluck the words out of the air and bury them under lock and key, if only she could have said something less…ridiculous. Will was a man from far, far in the future and to hear him tell it, she’d never married. He hadn’t asked her and Helen hadn’t pushed it up until this point and it was a nonissue.

Except it was a big issue, especially with the situation she’d gotten herself in. She felt him touch her cheek lightly with his hand, cupping it and frowning even deeper with concern.

“Ooookay,” he said slowly and Helen thought he must think her mad. Before she could open her mouth to explain, he’d slid to one knee and held both her hands in his. Damn! That wasn’t what she’d meant at all. Half of her was ablaze in shame, blush painting every inch of skin, and the other half was flattered that he would propose without question. His devotion must really run deep and true.

“I don’t know…okay, I take that back. I know that I love you. I know that if this is what you want and what you need, I’m happy to give it to you. I wish I had a ring to give you, Helen, but I hope my words are doing okay. I didn’t have a speech or anything prepared. I wasn’t…thinking I’d do this for a while. Long time. Years.”

Helen was dizzy again and shook her head, mortified that the forced proposal was falling from his lips when she hadn’t even had a chance to explain. She extricated one of her hands from his and pressed her fingers to his lips.

“Just stop, Will. I know you aren’t prepared. I’m pregnant.”

There. She’d said it. It was eerily quiet for a moment and Helen had shut her eyes, trying to keep from being any more embarrassed. She felt the tears start in her shoulders of all places, felt them rising and falling and shaking as she tried to keep the evidence of it from her face. It was in vain, because she felt fat, wet drops rolling messily down her nose and cheeks. She heard the creak of the floorboards and felt Will’s arms go around her, his lips brushing half against her hair and half against her forehead.

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t want to ask, Magnus. I’m not going to leave you hanging. I would have asked anyway, all right?”

Helen cracked one eye open to watch him, surprised at this reaction. She hadn’t anticipated this variation. She tilted her head a little and it must have asked a question without her voicing it aloud because Will laughed and tugged her even closer, lips brushing against her ear.

“It was Watson’s birthday, wasn’t it? The coat closet?”

And then Helen Magnus wished the earth would open and swallow her whole.


End file.
